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Blog Archive (August 2014) (Page1)

By: Jeff RittermanOne little piglet was born with only one large eye. A second piglet was missing an ear. A third piglet had a large hole in its skull. A fourth piglet had a monstrously huge "elephant tongue." A female piglet was born with testes. Still others had malformed limbs, spines, skulls and gastrointestinal tracts.The pigs in question belonged to a Danish pig farmer. For... more

By: Navdanya TrustSpeaking at the launch of the fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change at the Energy and Resources Institute, Union minister of state for environment Prakash Javadekar said: “We have not said no to science. Nobody can say no to science. Yes we have to take proper caution, we have to take proper action. But you cannot deny it. We are not... more

By: Stephanie SpearA judge overturned Fort Collins' five-year moratorium on hydralic fracturing Thursday, making it the third big blow to efforts by grassroots groups and politicians working to ban fracking in communities throughout the state.District Judge Gregory M. Lammons ruled on the lawsuit filed in late 2013 by the Colorado Oil and Gas Association challenging the bans passed... more

By: Raul ZibechiIf the state does not defend citizens against the violence and destruction of mining, people and communities must defend themselves, writes Raul Zibechi. And in Peru and Colombia that's exactly what they are doing, re-asserting indigenous control of the land and its resources.When states act to facilitate the business of multinationals and leave communities unprotected, as... more

(Beyond Pesticides, August 7, 2014) Residents of St. Louis, Michigan aren’t used to seeing large excavators and dump trucks haul piles of dirt from their front yards or entire blocks of big, neighborhood trees felled. What they are used to seeing are dead birds —sometimes even spontaneous, mid-flight deaths of the birds— and because of a toxic series of events, disasters, and... more

By: Leah ZerbeMillions of Americans and farmers don't want GMOs. Apparently, USDA doesn't care.Despite its own admission that it will cause an up to sevenfold increase in chemical pesticide use, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is poised to approve a new type of genetically engineered seed built to resist one of the most toxic weedkillers on the market.Now, total... more

Antibiotic use in farming is common but with serious effects on human health, it is time to think about responsible use in animalsThe miracle drug of the 20th century is in danger of running out of power. Antibiotic use in both humans and animals is contributing to areservoir of resistant bacteria resulting in increased human mortality and increased hospital stay lengths globally.The World... more

By: Carey GillamAug 6 (Reuters) - U.S. regulators on Tuesday said they are leaning toward approval of a new line of herbicide-tolerant crops developed by Monsanto Co even though they could increase problematic weed resistance for farmers.Under the draft "environmental impact statement" (EIS) by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS),... more

By: Thom HartmannLet’s talk about America’s farm­grown terrorism epidemic.Back on Sept. 11, nearly 3,000 people lost their lives in the attacks on the World Trade Center, Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Since 9/11, our government has spent more than $7.6 trillion on military and homeland security operations in response to the deaths of those roughly 3,... more

By: Nicole D'AlessandroThe battle to protect Hawaii’s Big Island from genetically engineered (GE) crops continues.On Aug. 1 Center for Food Safety (CFS), Earthjustice and local farmers filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit to defend the County of Hawaii’s Ordinance 13-121, which places a moratorium on expanding GE crops on the Big Island and regulates the... more

By: Michelle DonahueOnline Farmers Markets Increase Access to Good Food for All Income LevelsThe argument that locally farmed, organic food is just for entitled snobs may not hold water for much longer.A big, hairy criticism of the “buy local, eat organic” movement has been that it’s mainly for those with the means to shoulder the higher cost of organics. But the Internet may be... more

By: Willy Blackmore A suburb in the Twin Cities is the latest town to ban controversial neonicotinoids.Corn and soybeans dominate agriculture in Minnesota, as in much of the Midwest. The endless fields don’t need bees to pollinate the crops, but that hasn’t stopped the plants from hurting the state’s honeybee population. Like California, Minnesota—one of the country... more

By: Julie BosmanKINGDOM CITY, Mo. — Missourians already have the constitutional right to religion, speech and guns. On Tuesday, they could make a novel addition to the State Constitution: the right to farm.A proposal known as Amendment 1will be taken up in a statewide vote on Tuesday, leaving Missouri poised to change its Constitution to guarantee the rights of its people to “... more